Norwood News

Bedford Park residents are livid about a new homeless shelter that began operating in December without notifying anyone about it. The shelter will remain, city officials said, unless it can be proven that the building’s owners forced out previous tenants through harassment.

“[The Department of Homeless Services] was recently made aware by the community and the Community Board of possible forceful move-outs of prior tenants and takes this very seriously,” DHS spokesperson Heather Janik said in an e-mail. “The department finds this type of behavior unacceptable and plans to listen carefully to the community and fully investigate any formal concerns on this topic.

In early 2008, Briggs Realty, took control of 3001 Briggs Ave. — a building with a history of housing code violations and landlord neglect. By the end of the year, the building was nearly empty as the new owners began renovating the apartments to make way for the shelter.

Sally Dunford, the director of West Bronx Housing, said it was clear previous tenants had been forced out of their homes, but illegal harassment would be difficult to prove.

When the previous landlord sold to Briggs Realty, many tenants owed months, if not years, of back rent, Dunford said. The new landlord began evicting tenants for not paying back rent, which, according to state law, should have been kept in escrow accounts.
Many of them, Dunford said, didn’t save the money.

“Most tenants there were poor, didn’t know their rights and spent their money on other things,” Dunford said. 
Evicting tenants for failing to pay back rent is perfectly legal, Dunford said.

It’s also, ultimately, very lucrative for those now in charge of the building. The Department of Homeless Services pays the shelter’s manager, Aguila Inc., $96 per unit per day. That’s almost $3,000 a month or nearly triple the amount per unit previous tenants paid. Aguila wouldn’t say how much per unit it pays Briggs Realty.

DHS spokesperson Linda Bazerjian said if there is evidence of harassment, DHS would pull out of the building . DHS recently withdrew from a Queens building because of harassment issues, she said.

Regardless of whether the shelter stays or goes, Bedford Park residents are irate that there was no public process and that the shelter is located across from PS 8.

Peter Rivera, director of Aguila, Inc. whose father is the Bronx assemblyman of the same name, said he meant to inform the community. He later called it an “oversight.”

Around 100 people, mostly parents of PS 8 students with their children in tow, showed up at Community Board 7’s housing committee meeting two weeks ago to declare their opposition to the shelter, which set up shop on Christmas Eve without informing the school or community board.

There are now 83 formerly homeless people (31 parents and 52 kids) occupying 17 units in the 25-unit building. DHS hopes to fill another four units with more families (up to three families per unit). There are still four units in the building occupied by previous tenants.

Many worried the shelter would bring a dangerous element to the neighborhood.

Rivera, who runs several other similar facilities, said the shelter’s inhabitants would be parents (mostly single mothers) with children.
Nonetheless, DHS reps at the meeting said they couldn’t guarantee the residents would not have criminal records, but that Aguila would provide 24-hour security and a full-time social worker. 

Geraldine Salvatorelli, who grew up in the building and whose 91-year-old father, Lou Salvatorelli, is one of the few remaining non-transitional tenants, said the building is much better off than it was before. “You should have seen this place 10 years ago,” she said.

Still, some worried about the larger implications of the building’s transformation.

Cynthia Pachelli, a veteran PS 8 teacher, said the overcrowded  school would be overwhelmed by new students from the shelter.  But Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson Marge Feinberg said the city would not force homeless students into overcrowded schools.

DHS said only one of the shelter’s 52 children had enrolled at PS 8.

Bedford Park resident Lois Harr said turning affordable housing (all of the building’s units were previously rent-stabilized) into transitional housing perpetuated homelessness. Harr and others pointed out that the Bronx was already overburdened with homeless shelters. DHS said 45 of its 133 (34 percent) homeless facilities are in the Bronx.

Aguila hopes to open a similar facility just down the road at 2903 Valentine Ave. This time, however, they’re planning to ask for community support at the next Community Board 7 meeting on Feb. 17 at the Bronx Library Center. Most residents in attendance at the housing committee meeting said they didn’t need to wait to hear all the details. They were already against it.